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That ‘medical alert’ about severe Covid-19 cases in Cork due to anti-inflammatories is fake

17th Mar 2020

Claim

There are four young people with no underlying illnesses in an intensive care unit in Cork due to Covid-19, who had all been taking anti-inflammatory drugs.

Conclusion

This is not true. It has been denied by the clinical lead of Ireland’s public health service and the whole message branded ‘misinformation’.

A medical alert says to stop the use of anti-inflammatories for pain or high temperatures.

This message is fake. Current advice from health authorities in the UK and Ireland say to continue taking previously prescribed medication, including anti-inflammatories unless told otherwise by a healthcare professional. The NHS says there is no strong evidence that taking ibuprofen can make Covid-19 worse, but advises people with symptoms to take paracetamol if they can.

Claim 1 of 2

A post claiming to be a medical alert sent to stop the use of anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen hasbeenshared several thousand times on Facebook and via WhatsApp.

This post is fake: it is not a real medical alert

The post claims that paracetamol should be used instead of anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen, voltarol and naproxen for pain or high temperature.

It claims that “there seems to be a link between severe cases of Covid-19 affecting young people with no underlying illnesses and taking anti-inflammatories.” Covid-19 is the name of the infection caused by the new coronavirus.

The post also claims that there is evidence of this from Cork, in the Republic of Ireland, where four young people (with no underlying illnesses and who were taking anti-inflammatories) are in an intensive care unit.

It is an adapted version of a message that began circulating in Ireland a few days ago

The earlier version of the message was said to be from “Dr Tim”, and has already been debunked by news outletsin Ireland. In one version, the message also advised readers to do physiotherapy instead.

The Infectious Disease Society of Ireland tweeted “this is a fake message, please ignore and delete. The clinical lead for Ireland’s public health service (HSE), Dr Colm Henry, has said that there are no patients in Cork University Hospital matching the description in the message.

The HSE issued a statement on Monday 16 March in response to “false information about anti-inflammatory medication and Covid-19 circulating in media and on social media over the last 24 hours“.

Advice on anti-inflammatories and Covid-19

The HSE and the NHS advise anyone with Covid-19 to continue taking medication, including anti-inflammatories, unless told otherwise by a healthcare professional.

For people with symptoms of Covid-19, the HSE says “paracetamol is usually recommended as the first-line treatment for most people”, but also says that “ibuprofen may help with symptoms such as pain or fever”.

Current guidance from the NHS is different. It says that “until we have more information” about ibuprofen, paracetamol should be used to treat symptoms of the new coronavirus (unless your doctor has told you paracetamol is unsuitable for you).

It adds that, if you are taking ibuprofen or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAID) on the advice of a doctor, you should not stop doing so without checking first.

We have written more about guidance around ibuprofen and Covid-19 in another fact check.

This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here.
For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as partly false
because this is a fake medical alert and the described cases of young people in intensive care in Cork don’t seem to exist, but the NHS has issued advice to use paracetamol if possible rather than ibuprofen to treat the symptoms of Covid-19.

Update 19 March 2020

We updated this article to include more examples of the post being shared on social media

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Covid-19 crisis: we need your help to protect us all from bad information

You’ve probably seen a surge in misleading and unsubstantiated medical advice since the Covid-19 outbreak. If followed, it can put lives at serious risk. We need your help to protect us all from false and harmful information.

We’ve seen people claiming to be health professionals, family members, and even the government – offering dangerous tips like drinking warm water or gargling to prevent infection. Neither of these will work.

The longer claims like these go unchecked, the more they are repeated and believed. It can put people’s health at serious risk, when our services are already under pressure.

Today, you have the opportunity to help save lives. Good information about Covid-19 could be the difference between someone taking the right precautions to protect themselves and their families, or not.

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